Global Dating App Usage Increases 82% During Pandemic

People around the world continue social distancing as COVID-19 spreads, and as a result, dating apps are seeing a surge of activity among users.

A new study by Dating.com found that there has been an 82% increase in dating app usage since the beginning of March, showing how much people have come to rely on dating apps for connection and meeting people virtually.

The study also looked at where that usage spiked over the month of March when more people than ever began to isolate to stop the spread of the virus, to see how it correlated with positive cases of COVID-19 around the world. The United States takes the lead as the most active country for online dating, notably as the country’s positive cases have significantly increased and it has become the global hot spot of the pandemic.

The U.S. is followed by India, then Ireland, the United Kingdom and, lastly, Spain, all of which are facing challenges as a result of rising cases.

Some other trends Dating.com found among each group include:

• People seem to be logging in to dating apps in the mornings and evenings. Overall, each of these top countries have more than 57% of users registered to that country active and online at any given moment between 6am-12pm and 6pm-12am local time. In the United Kingdom however, users tend to log on in the highest volume in the middle of the day.
• Conversations among users located in India and Ireland span the longest length of time, on average 19-25 consecutive days in length before moving off of the dating platform.
• Users in the United States pursue the highest number of new matches per day, on average with six or more conversations initiated.
• Users registered in Spain are most open to speak to other users via in-app video chat features. To date, Bumble, Badoo and now Plenty of Fish all have video chat features.

“Online dating exists to make finding love possible no matter where you are located or what’s going on in the world,” Maria Sullivan, Vice President and Dating Expert of Dating.com, said of the study. “Who is to say if you live in New York, that the love of your life will conveniently be located there too? …In order to give love a fair shot, it’s important to explore all of your options, even if it’s with a connection from somewhere you never expected.”

The Dating.com Group describes itself as “a global social discovery platform,” with offices in seven countries and more than 73 million registered users. Their brands include Dating.com, DateMyAge, LovingA, Tubit, AnastasiaDate, ChinaLove.